After an epic weekend ski touring, climbing and closing down Mammoth Mountain, Noe and Ellie were back at work, which meant I was back to hiking! Their two housemates were on their way to Mammoth Mountain to turn in their uniforms, so they dropped me off at Tom’s Place. I had a beautiful hike around Crowley Lake, including a stop for lunch at the Crowley Lake Salt Columns.
I slowly climbed as I approached the Glass Mountains. I camped high in the range that night, and was treated to beautiful views of the Sierra and the Whites. The Glass Mountains are right there in the middle of it all, yet I didn’t see any other hikers up in the range. The next morning, I had a bit of a slow start, and continued to make my way cross country along the crest of the range. I marveled at the obsidia lying around everywhere!
Eventually I finished the off trail section of the traverse and I noticed that smoke was building to my west, where I had originally planned to finish my hike. I decided instead of hiking to US 395, I would divert north to SR 120, and try to hitch from there instead. I got to 120 and started walking along the highway. Traffic was very light and I was unsure if I would get a ride before the sunset. I was a few hours into this roadwalk, almost to Mono Lake and had long since given up on making it back to Noe’s for dinner. All of a sudden, some people driving all the way from Texas pulled over and drove me all the way to June Lake Junction.
The sun was setting though, and I knew it would still take some luck to get to Swall Meadows. A young guy who had just helped his dad pick up his car in Nevada picked me up and drove me to 203/395. At this point it was almost completely dark, but I stood under a floodlight and threw out my thumb anyway. I saw a cop drive by, but decided to keep my thumb out anyways, as I was kind of curious to see what would happen. Sure enough the cop pulled back around a few minutes later, this time with his lights on.
He asked me what I was up to and I was honest with him. After deducing that I seemed sane enough, he agreed to drive me to Tom’s Place on the condition I pass a background check and accept a pat down. On the drive down there, I sat in the back and he told me he was very worried I would be eaten by a mountain lion in Tom’s Place. I tried to assure him this was not a concern, but he insisted that I contact a friend to pick me up immediately upon arrival.
Noe and Ellie were sitting down for dinner so they did not answer my calls. Finally as we were pulling in to Tom’s Place, they picked up and this was enough to reassure the officer. I promised to sit by the general store and stay on the look out for any Puma’s and he drove off. Noe picked me up and we had one final delicious dinner, before him and Ellie would head back to the Bay the next day, and I would head south to try for some more peaks.
Anthony Ottati 